Open end ratchet wrench with a removable head



June 10, 1969 W. MORROW OPEN END RAT CHET WRENCH WITH A REMOVABLE HEADFiled Sept. 29, 1967 m w WM Q Wm M M J 7 M r M a a, a w 7 i I 9 7 3 M 4M i M fi ZW.IIIH!;.$2 0 4 W, n. M

United States Patent O 3,448,641 OPEN END RATCHET WRENCH WITH AREMOVABLE HEAD William J. Morrow, 301-2 Pennell Circle, Tallahassee,Fla. 32304 Filed Sept. 29, 1967, Ser. No. 671,739 Int. Cl. B25b 13/00,13/46 US. Cl. 8158.2 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An open endwrench having a ratchet head carried by an operating handle within whichthe head can be rotated in a selected direction but held againstrotation in the other direction. The ratchet head is removably mountedon the handle to permit heads of different sizes to be interchangeable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the inventioru This inventionrelates generally to machine tools of various kinds and particularly toopen end wrenches having a head with ratchet or other adjusting means.

Description of the prior art Many open end wrenches have been providedsome of which have had heads which were removable to accommodate nutsand fasteners of different sizes and a few of which have been providedwith ratchet means which permit the head to be rotated in a selectivedirection. These prior art devices have not been satisfactory since theyhave been bulky and expensive to produce, as well as not satisfying thepurpose for which they were intended due to jamming or binding of theratchet head when placed under a strain.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is a relatively simplecompact ratchet head open end wrench in which the head is rotatablymounted on one end of a handle and means is provided for permittingrotation of the head in either direction but which will prevent rotationin the other direction. The head is rotatably mounted on a pivot pinwhich can be easily withdrawn so that the head can be removed andanother head having a nut receiving opening of a different size can beinserted within the handle and the pivot pin replaced. An operatinglever and associated mechanism is provided for controlling the directionof movement of the ratchet head.

It is an object of the invention ot provide an open end wrench having arotatably mounted head with means permitting rotation in a selecteddirection but preventing rotation in the opposite direction.

Another object of the invention is to provide an open end Wrench havinga rotatably mounted head with teeth around a portion of its peripherywhich are selectively engaged by a double toothed pawl to permitrotation of the head in one direction at a time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a top plan view illustratingone embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view thereof.

FIG. 3 is a side elevation.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged section on the line 44 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged section on the line 5-5 of FIG. 2.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With continued reference to thedrawing, an operating handle 10 is provided having a cylindrical shankportion 11 with a knurled gripping portion 12 at one end. At itsopposite end the shank portion 11 is flattened into a yoke 13 havingupper and lower portions 14 and 15, respectively, connected by anintermediate portion 16 and defining a throat 17. A removable pivot pin18 is carried by the yoke 13 adjacent the free end thereof and such pinhas an enlarged head 19 at one end recessed within a eounterbore 20 inthe upper portion 14. A groove 21 is disposed about the pin 18 adjacentthe end remote from the head. Such groove is adapted to receive oppositesides of a bifurcated slide lock 22 which retains the pin in position.

A wrench head 24 is rotatably mounted on the pin 18 and such head mayhave a fastener receiving opening 25 extending inwardly from the edgethereof and generally radially of said pin. The edge of the head 24opposite the opening 25 is disposed on a radius and is provided with aplurality of teeth 26. As illustrated, the wrench head 24 is generallycylindrical with flat sides; however, any desired configuration would beacceptable as long as a portion of the edge is on a radius and providedwith teeth.

The intermediate portion 16 and the upper portion 14 of the yoke 13 areprovided with a counterbore 27 in which a generally cylindrical doubletoothed pawl 28 is rotatably mounted. The pawl 28 is provided with aflattened portion 29 along one side thereof and such flattened portionterminates in teeth 30 at opposite sides of the flattened portion andgenerally complementary to and selectively engageable with the teeth 26.Along the opposite side of the pawl 28 a pair of generally parallelgrooves 31 are provided which are separated by a land portion 32 andsuch grooves are adapted to receive a detent 33 urged therein by aspring 34, such spring being received within a recess 35 in theintermediate portion 16.

In order to rotate the pawl 28 one end of such pawl is provided with agenerally triangular projection 36 on which an operating lever 37 isfixed in any desired manner. At the opposite end of the pawl a stubshaft 38 is provided which extends outwardly through an opening 39 intoan elongated counterbore 40 recessed within the lower portion 15 of theyoke 13. To hold the pawl 28 in fixed rotatable position the stub shaft38 is provided with a groove 41 adjacent its outer end and locatedwithin the counterbore 40. The groove 41 is adapted to receive thebifurcated end 42 of a leaf spring 43 which prevents withdrawal of thepawl. I

The slide lock 22 is disposed within the elongated counterbore 40 and inorder to prevent the accidental movement of the slide lock and thepossible loss of the pin 18, such slide lock is provided with a pair ofraised knurled gripping portions 44 at one end which are spaced apart adistance sufficient to accommodate the free end of the leaf spring 43which is disposed therebetween and which will retain the slide lock infixed adjusted position. A hold down and guide pin 45 is receivedbetween the bifurcated ends of the slide lock 22 and such pin isprovided with an elongated head 46 adapted to overlie the slide lock 22.The head 46 will retain the slide lock within the elongated counterbore40 when the slide lock is retracted from the pin 18.

The ratchet head open end wrench of the present invention isparticularly useful in enclosed or tight spaces which would preclude theuse of a conventional open end wrench. In the operation of the device ahead 24 having an opening 25 of a desired size is located within thethroat 17 and rotatably mounted on the pin 18. The slide lock 22 whichhas been retracted, is then extended so that the bifurcated ends arereceived within the groove 21 and the pin 18 is locked in position. Thelever 37 is rotated until it is disposed generally longitudinally of thehandle 10 at which time the detent 33 will be disposed on the landportion 32 and the flattened portion 29 will be disposed adjacent to theteeth 26 of the head 24. In this position the head is freely rotatableand can be rotated in either direction to the most advantageous positionfor engaging a nut or other fastener. Thereafter the lever 37 is movedto one side or the other so that one set of teeth 30 will cooperativelyengage the teeth 26. In this position the head 24 can be rotated in onedirection due to the fact that the teeth 26 of the head will rotate thepawl 28 slightly against the pressure of the spring 34 and permit theteeth 26 to pass the teeth 30. However, when pressure is applied torotate the head 24 in the opposite direction, the teeth 30 will be movedinto tighter engagement with the teeth 26 and will prevent any suchrotation. When the handle is disposed within a confined space, suchhandle may be moved until it engages an obstruction and the movement ofthe handle will rotate the nut a small amount. The handle can then beshifted back with the teeth 26 of the head overriding the teeth 30 ofthe pawl until the handle strikes an obstruction on the opposite side.Thereafter the process is repeated.

It will be apparent that a relatively simple ratchet head open endwrench has been provided in which a plurality of heads of differentsizes can be interchangeably mounted on a single handle and which can beeither freely rotated or selectively rotated in one direction whilebeing prevented from rotating in the opposite direction.

It will be obvious to one skilled in the art that various changes may bemade in the described embodiment of the invention without departing fromthe spirit and scope thereof and therefore the invention is not limitedby that which is illustrated in the drawing and described in thespecification, but only as indicated in the accompanying claims.

I claim:

1. A ratchet head open end wrench comprising a handle having a yoke onone end, a pin removably mounted on said yoke and extending from oneside thereof to the other, lock means for retaining said pin and saidyoke in assembled relation, a wrench head rotatably mounted on said pin,said head having a fastener receiving opening on one side and aplurality of teeth on the opposite side, said teeth being disposedgenerally radially of said pin, a pawl movably mounted within said yoke,a plurality of sets of teeth carried by said pawl and adapted toselectively cooperatively engage the teeth of said head, said sets ofteeth being spaced from each other and separated by a reduced portion,detent means for maintaining said pawl in adjusted position, and levermeans connected to said pawl for selectively moving the same, wherebysaid pawl can be moved to a first position so that said reduced portionis adjacent to the teeth of said head to permit free rotation of saidhead, or moved to a second position so that a selected set of teeth onsaid pawl will cooperatively engage the teeth of said head and permitthe head to be moved in one direction but prevent it from moving in theopposite direction.

2. A ratchet head open end wrench comprising a handle having yoke meansat one end, pin means removably mounted on said yoke means and extendingfrom one side to the other, said pin means having an annular grooveadjacent one end, a bifurcated slide lock means slidably mounted on saidyoke means and adapted to selectively engage the annular recess of saidpin to retain said pin and said yoke means in assembled relation, aremovable wrench head rotatably mounted on said pin means within saidyoke means, a plurality of pawl-engaging means on said wrench head anddisposed generally radially of said pin, a pawl swingably mounted withinsaid yoke means, lever means connected to said pawl for selectivelyswinging'the same, a plurality of teeth carried by said pawl and adaptedto selectively cooperatively engage the pawl-engaging means of saidhead, said teeth being spaced from each other and separated by a reducedportion, and means for maintaining said pawl in selected position,whereby in one position of said pawl the wrench head can be rotated inone direction but prevented from rotation in the opposite direction, andin another position of the pawl the wrench head can be rotated freely.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 308,969 12/1884 Lussier 8l62 X645,148 3/1900 Vankirk 81-63 969,379 9/1910 Lane 8l63 X 974,121 11/1910Case 8l58.4 978,395 12/1910 Peters 8158.5 1,101,381 6/1914 Anderson etal 8l62 X 2,537,175 1/1951 Viets 8l58.2 3,299,725 1/ 1967 Gewirc et al8l62 X MYRON C. KRUSE, Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 81-63

